Why do we stop doing arts and crafts? Why should kids have all the fun?
APR 03, 2025
Dear Reader,
Using a bullet journal to track my progress means once a month I get to do something creative that isn’t putting words on a page. I get to be crafty. Messy.
I get to be an artist!
It takes me longer than I think it should to create my opening spread for the month. What I’d like to create, or what I see in my head, never winds up on the page. Like, at all.
In my head I’m Monet. In reality, I’m…yeah. Not.
In grade school I was the kid who always had glue in her hair and glitter on her face. When it came time to make those paper plate turkeys or holiday cards or whatever, I wound up with more stuff on me than on the thing I was making.
I had so little eye-hand coordination that they made me write with special grips on my pencils so that I would be forced to hold them correctly. The teacher advised my parents to get me a Lite Brite (remember those? They were AWESOME!) so that I could practice getting my eyes and hands to work together.
I suppose all of that did some good? I mean, I can write. In cursive and everything!
I’m not, however, the best at it, or at anything that involves that kind of movement. Like chopsticks.
It took me three days to even start working on this month’s spread. I kept picturing things that I knew I couldn’t accomplish. I wanted to draw a field of bluebonnets and wildflowers, because it’s Spring in Texas, and then paint it with vivid colors that evoke…oh who am I kidding? I can’t draw.
That’s the voice in my head saying that, but it also happens to be true. I still draw like I’m five. It’s just not a skill I ever managed to learn.
You’d think I’d just scrap the whole idea. Oh no. Not giving up that easy. I will not admit defeat in the face of an arts and crafts project! I am an adult!
Also, I’m incredibly stubborn. Just ask my mother.
For April in particular I wanted to create a piece of art. Myself. No paint by numbers. No coloring book lines to fill in.
Just me.
So, no. I didn’t give up.
I got out the watercolors, and paper, and a bunch of paper towels because yes, I’m still that messy, and I started slopping color down. Some of it even landed on the paper!
You know what? It’s not a masterpiece, but I wound up with something that makes me smile every time I look at it.
That’s all art has to do, right?
Until next time,
